As Mazlum correctly states above, the Libyan oil industry was nationalized decades ago, which means the former privately owned Libyan oil companies were expropriated by the government, and 100% of their oil royalties now flow to the government.
Foreign oil companies are a different matter. Foreign companies bid on concessions, eg, geographic areas within which they are granted rights for a certain length of time to explore, to develop at enormous cost the necessary infrastructure, to produce oil, and to sell it at a negotiated royalty rate that must be economically feasible to compensate for the huge investment costs and risks involved.
The nationalization I speak of - what Mossadegh planned to do, what Hugo Chavez has already done, and what I believe the US, UK and others feared Qaddafi might do – can be anything from reducing foreign companies’ royalty rates to the point at which operating concessions is unprofitable, to wholesale expropriation.
Since 2009, Muammar Gaddafi has looked ready to launch a new round of energy-sector nationalism. ConocoPhillips, Marathon, Occidental, Hess, Shell, and BP all made $billions of new investments in Libya since Qaddafi renounced his nuclear weapons program. Libyan newspapers were actively discussing nationalization, ie, diluting western companies' stakes in these new concessions, a la his buddy Hugo Chavez. http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/22/libya-gaddafi-oil-biz-energy-cx_ch_0122libya.html)
As to 1953 Iran coup, according to CIA documents:
Britain, fearful of Iran's plans to nationalize its oil industry, came up with the idea for the coup in 1952 and pressed the United States to mount a joint operation to remove the prime minister.
The C.I.A. and S.I.S., the British intelligence service, handpicked Gen. Fazlollah Zahedi to succeed Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh and covertly funneled $5 million to General Zahedi's regime two days after the coup prevailed.
Iranians working for the C.I.A. and posing as Communists harassed religious leaders and staged the bombing of one cleric's home in a campaign to turn the country's Islamic religious community against Mossadegh's government.
Libya 2011 may not be Iraq 2003 so much as it is Iran 1953.
In 1953, Mohammad Mosaddegh, the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran, was overthrown in a CIA-led coup after he had nationalized the British-controlled oil industry in Iran.
In early 2009, Gaddafi told students at Georgetown University via satellite that oil prices were "unbearable" and that Libyan oil "maybe should be owned by national companies or the public sector at this point, in order to control the oil prices, the oil production or maybe to stop it."
As Mazlum correctly states above, the Libyan oil industry was nationalized decades ago, which means the former privately owned Libyan oil companies were expropriated by the government, and 100% of their oil royalties now flow to the government.
Foreign oil companies are a different matter. Foreign companies bid on concessions, eg, geographic areas within which they are granted rights for a certain length of time to explore, to develop at enormous cost the necessary infrastructure, to produce oil, and to sell it at a negotiated royalty rate that must be economically feasible to compensate for the huge investment costs and risks involved.
The nationalization I speak of - what Mossadegh planned to do, what Hugo Chavez has already done, and what I believe the US, UK and others feared Qaddafi might do – can be anything from reducing foreign companies’ royalty rates to the point at which operating concessions is unprofitable, to wholesale expropriation.
I cited Forbes and the New York Times. Did you read the articles?
Here are some facts:
Since 2009, Muammar Gaddafi has looked ready to launch a new round of energy-sector nationalism. ConocoPhillips, Marathon, Occidental, Hess, Shell, and BP all made $billions of new investments in Libya since Qaddafi renounced his nuclear weapons program. Libyan newspapers were actively discussing nationalization, ie, diluting western companies' stakes in these new concessions, a la his buddy Hugo Chavez.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/22/libya-gaddafi-oil-biz-energy-cx_ch_0122libya.html)
As to 1953 Iran coup, according to CIA documents:
Britain, fearful of Iran's plans to nationalize its oil industry, came up with the idea for the coup in 1952 and pressed the United States to mount a joint operation to remove the prime minister.
The C.I.A. and S.I.S., the British intelligence service, handpicked Gen. Fazlollah Zahedi to succeed Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh and covertly funneled $5 million to General Zahedi's regime two days after the coup prevailed.
Iranians working for the C.I.A. and posing as Communists harassed religious leaders and staged the bombing of one cleric's home in a campaign to turn the country's Islamic religious community against Mossadegh's government.
http://www.nytimes.com/library/world/mideast/041600iran-cia-index.html
Libya 2011 may not be Iraq 2003 so much as it is Iran 1953.
In 1953, Mohammad Mosaddegh, the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran, was overthrown in a CIA-led coup after he had nationalized the British-controlled oil industry in Iran.
In early 2009, Gaddafi told students at Georgetown University via satellite that oil prices were "unbearable" and that Libyan oil "maybe should be owned by national companies or the public sector at this point, in order to control the oil prices, the oil production or maybe to stop it."
(http://www.forbes.com/2009/01/22/libya-gaddafi-oil-biz-energy-cx_ch_0122libya.html)
First Gaddafi threatened to nationalize, which gave the incentive to remove him. Then he threatened to massacre, which gave the justification.
Buh-bye!